Sameer. Control. Relax. You can do this. It's no murder. You can do this." Sameer mumbled under his breath.

Inside a white Creta, Sameer Maheshwari was sitting impatiently. The car was parked outside VJN University,Mumbai. He was waiting for Naina and her gang to come out of their college. He was doing Bachelors in Mass Communication from the same university. He didn't need to visit the college everyday and he didn't care much about his education either. He was doing well enough to pass his exams. He was out there to be friendly with MunDit, who are the easiest shortcut into Naina's close, little world.

"What did Ishwari ma'am say about nervousness before a scene the other day? Yes I should talk about random shit to myself! So what's happening around? It's a hot day. A hot, humid day. I can hear the birds sing or a better term will be are making noises... I ... I'm scared. Okay, Sameer,Sameer you are doing everything with the right motives. What was that dialogue in our show? Kuch cheezon me to sirf niyat dekhi jaati hai aur Chahat ki niyat me to pyar ki sachai thi. So, I'm doing this for Naina... Let's take it as a scene. Ha? Ok? A hero bumps into some common boys outside a university. He talks to them and ... Oo Naina's here." Sameer said.

As soon as he saw Naina and gang walking towards the gate of the campus he jumped out of the car in a frenzy. His steps were unsure. He was going to become friends with people only and only for his benefit. This wasn't typical of Sameer but he couldn't find any other way.

Pandit was the one who was walking on the outer edge of the pavement. He was unmindful of the people coming and going. They were all busy in laughing on a joke which was cracked by Munna. Sameer saw this as the perfect oppurtunity for his 'scene'. Few diagonal steps towards the group and BANG, Sameer bumped hard into Pandit. He was so desperate in doing the scene perfect in one take that he didn't care about the intensity of their collision.

"Ouch!" Pandit whined in pain. He was down on his knees because of the effect of the collision.

"I'm sorry" Sameer pretended to not notice anyone in the gang. He was frantically picking up Pandit's phone and books from the floor.

"Are Sameer tu?" Munna exclaimed with surprise and Sameer said a small thank you to God. He was hoping that Munna would recognize him in front of his friends so that he could join them in whatever they were going to do next.

"Hi Munna! Hi Pandit!" Sameer gave a brief smile to both of them. Their radiating faces were pinching him. He quickly turned to the girls and said a small hi there too.

He waited for someone to ask him something but the awkwardness of the silence was growing each second.

"Aaa ... Sameer tum chaloge humare saath? Red Rose?" Pandit sensed Sameer's uneasiness around them.

"Haa ... Mujhe koi problem to nahi hai par kahi kuch logon ko mere yaha hone se complex na ho jaaye." Sameer tried to insert an year's quota of swag in this one line as he eyed Naina while saying this.

"Prob..." Preeti opened her mouth in protest but Naina held her arm to stop her.

"Munna... Ye tera bhai hai na, hume kya problem hogi? Acche se khila ke vida karenge." Naina could throw consecutive bombs at him right now but Sameer was ready with all protective gears. Aan do he thought.

They walked to Red Rose, the college's nearby one-stop-eat-it-all restaurant. Swati and Preeti exchanged tensed looks but Naina was walking as if they hadn't welcomed Sameer in their small little group but an estranged puppy who had to be fed and dismissed!

"Ye pagal ho gayi hai kya?" Swati asked Preeti in whispers

"Phuk kyu rahi hai kaan me? Lagta hai Naina ka koi screw gir gaya hai Sameer se milne ke baad." Preeti replied. Swati came close to Preeti's ear to whisper something but Preeti stopped her "Phukna mat!"

The girls took their seats while MunDit went to order Samosas and Colas. Sameer stood for a while, wondering where to display his desperation? Should he stand with MunDit to gain their trust as a friend or should he simply sit with the girls, flash a toothy smile at Naina, maybe gain some brownie points in her eyes with good looks? He settled for the second one.

He took long,urgent steps towards Naina. He sat on the chair right in front of her but her sipahis SwaPree were ready to throw daggers in his cute face.

He flashed a smile to woo Naina but-

"Kya hai? Shaadi ke liye photo khichwane aaye ho jo ye hihihi daat dikha rahe ho?" Naina said with irritation.

"Mai.." Sameer's docile Naina had turned into an angry cat. He had no clue how to deal with her.

He looked at Swati-the crazy fangirl for some help but she looked away and his silly smile turned upside down into a frown.

Why is he being so good? Is he here after me? Or is it just because he turned out to be Munna's cousin? Was it possble for this ex-bully, ex-smoker bad boy to change into the most down to earth actor in telly town? Naina had a million questions racing in her head.

"Mai unke saath humara order le kar aati hu." Naina got up from the table unable to make any sense of his presence.

She stood behind MunDit who were still waiting for their order. She turned around to look at him. Was he really here after all these years? He was looking in her direction constantly. Back in school, she had been irrevocably in love with him. She used to stare at him without a blink wherever he went, he hardly seemed to notice and now that the tables had turned Naina didn't know whether it would be right to do a mini happy dance in her head?

"Salman Maheshwari!"

A girl shrieked from the gate of Red Rose. All the heads turned in her direction. The girl screaming her lungs out was Sunaina and her cry had gathered some other girls attention who were all drooling over the celebrity amidst them. Sameer dreaded what these fangirls would do next? Half of the crowd  had recognized Sameer and the half non-Telly maniacs were clueless about Sunaina's crazy reaction.

"OMG!OMFG! SAMEER!" Sunaina kept screaming, deafening the people near her.

Sameer got up from his seat and walked to the spot where she was standing, transfixed. He wanted to end the sudden attention drawn to him.

Naina closely observed his steps and with each centimetre covered between Sameer and Sunaina she felt a tinge of jealousy rise it's head in her.

"Dekha apne bhai ko. Attention seeker" Naina could bite anyone's head off their torso.

"Wo to bas ek fan se milne jaa raha hai." Munna jumped in his brother's defense.

"Fan se milne jaa raha hai." Naina imitated Munna "Yahi aadatein hai iski. Female attention milta hai to par nikal aate hai."

Naina was breathing like a dragon ready to spit fire any second.

"Tumhe itna kaise pata?" Pandit tapped his fingers on his chin.

"Ssss....Swati, pehle bahut baat karti thi" Naina tried to cover up.

As the trio were busy dissecting Sameer and his recent actions a group of girls had gathered around  him and were literally ready to pounce on him. The innocent Bholuram had gone to sign an autograph or maybe click a selfie to calm Sunaina down but he hadn't expected his fans to go wild enough to pull him, push him, scream around him, try to touch him and what not! He just realised the relevance of bodyguards in public appearances.

"Yaar Munna ye to iska bharta banake kha jaayengi!" Pandit was on his toes "Humein iski madad nahi karni chahiye?"

"Hume kya?" Naina shrugged her shoulders.

"Aaya!Aaya! Ek dharti phad idea aaya" Munna screamed and vibrated with excitement. He whispered his idea in Pandit's ears. Pandit nodded with equal zeal and zest.

Before Naina could protest the boys were off to save their brother.

Pandit stood behind the crowd of fans. He tapped on the shoulder of a boy who looked back at him with angry eyes.

"Ek secret batau?" Pandit asked with a matter of fact air around him.

"Kya? Aur tu mujhe kyu batayega?" The boy looked at Pandit with disbelief.

"Wo Manoj ko dekh raha hai, are apna Munna ... Wo Sameer ka cousin hai. Uske saath hi to Sameer yaha aaya hai par uske aane ki wajah sirf mujhe pata hai." As soon as Pandit saw the guy buying his story he added "Sameer yaha apne show ka open audition lene aaya hai. Ye peeche wale table par abhi wo aayega aur ye baat announce karega. Bhai mai to yaha se hat kar peeche khada hone wala hu. Hero banane ka chance baar baar kaha milta hai?"

The guy was still not sure. His friend asked him about the matter and he told him everything that Pandit had said. Person to person Pandit's words spread like wild fire. The urge to grab the front spot near the audition table wasn't as strong as the urge to not let others get the oppurtunity first. The crowd began dispersing and got stationed slowly near the 'audition table'. The news got hyped till it reached Sunaina's ears. Somehow some gossip mongers had reconstructed the news of a simple audition into an audition with free kisses from Sameer. Some people left the spot in disgust others just joined the crowd, even without knowing the full details.

"Ab to milte rahenge" Sunaina said as she got the last page of her pocket notepad signed by Sameer. His attention was however on the quick dispersal of the crowd around him. Did the owner of the restaurant know that he had created a chaos and was coming to bust him red handed?

Just then, Munna grabbed Sameer by his arm. As soon as Sunaina heard the modified rumour she turned tomato red and joined the crowd too. Sunaina left Sameer and Munna dragged him out of the restaurant without an explanation.

"Mujhe khich kyu rahe ho tum?" Sameer asked Munna as soon as they were out of the university campus.

"Nahi khichta to wo sab tumhare darshan ke chakkar me yahi tumhari kabr khod dete. Bheed bekabu si ho rahi thi to tumhare bhai ne ek dharti phad idea nikala aur bacha laya tumhe kaal ke muh se!" Munna lifted his collars in self praise.

"Dharti phad idea? Wo kya hota hai?" Sameer was curious and happy to be referred as a brother by a guy who was total stranger few weeks back. A small string of a relation between the two had made Munna cross odd lengths for Sameer. He wondered what would he do for Pandit, who was an actual friend?

Munna told Sameer about their whole plan and Sameer chuckled thinking about how his fellow university goers would react when they would get to know about the fake news. He didn't have to think for a long time. They saw a person being chased by a whole mob of people. A little strain of eyes revealed the person to be none other than Pandit,whose verbal diarrhoea had leaked the entire plan in front of the mob. He had to run out of the window to save his life!

Sameer and Munna saw Pandit and signalled him to run faster. Pandit joined them.

"Peeche hai wo... Kaat denge mujhe" Pandit took deep breaths, he was panting and was in desperate need of air.

"Idea!" Sameer's head's tubelight shined bright and he pulled MunDit behind a car but they tripped and fell into the bushes, planted on the sides of the pavements.

"Kaha hai wo?"

"Dhundho"

They could hear distinct voices for a while which died down after a few minutes. SaMunDit came out of the bush and crawled to the parking. They could see a few students here and there looking for them. With extra caution they got inside Sameer's car. As Sameer was igniting the engine, somebody from the crowd saw him but he drove the car out of the parking in jet speed to avoid any more drama.

"Thank you" He said as they were nearing Munna's apartment.

"Thank you ki kaun si baat hai? Munna ka bhai, mera bhai. Munna ki mummy meri mummy, Munna ke papa mere papa, Munna ki frock wali ..." Pandit had to stop because-

"Ae Ponga Pandit aisi bakwaas na kariyo." Munna shouted loud enough for the entire locality to hear. Pandit laughed and held his ears.

Sameer on the other hand was feeling pathetic. The crowd could have unintentionally harmed him. They were behaving as if he was an unclaimed Rs. 2000 note on the floor and not a human. They were pulling him, pushing him. He looked at the minor scratches in his fingers. The day could have been a disaster if not for these angels - one with oily and the other with curly hair. He felt like cursing himself for calling his attempts of friendship just another scene in the morning.

MunDit pulled Sameer inside the house with them. Manju Aunty gave him first aid for those scratches, obviously after she was done with her over pampering and cheek pulling session.

He felt a different warmth radiating from every corner of Munna's typical middle class apartment. There was nothing impressive in his house but he felt at home. Mumbai had always been busy and cold for him, here he felt a sense of acceptance. Distant Relationship? Or Munna's full acceptance of him as a brother? What was it that made the place feel like his own? He didn't know the exact answer but he could actually eat anything from Manju Aunty's kitchen and doze off on the sofa.

Manju Aunty fed them a proper marwari meal and asked Sameer to stay with them for the night, he instantly agreed.

Back in Munna's room they talked for a long time about everyday nothings. Sameer found Munna Pandit adorably strange. They did weird little antics. Getting up and vibrating, jumping, mini dances on happy things. They were such adorable idiots, such happy souls that Sameer felt a sense of instant protectiveness for them.

He had a lot to thank Naina for. The discipline and good habits she had inculcated in him made him what he is today and it was she who led him to Munna and Pandit too.

Munna and Pandit were in a peaceful slumber but Sameer couldn't catch any sleep. He saw Pandit's phone lying on the bedside table. He got down from the bed and thought for a while to pick it up or not. Pandit turned in his sleep and Sameer froze for a while. He didn't wake up and Sameer let out a long breath. He finally decided to pick his phone and walked into the balcony. He could see faint outline of two girls sleeping and one studying in the light of a night lamp.

He swiped Pandit's phone to unlock it but it demanded a password. What could it be? What could it be? He thought for a while.

He tried-

Preeti. Reject.
Munna. Reject.

Now there was one last chance to open the phone or it would get locked.

Samosa. Accept.

Sameer laughed hard on Pandit's "food love before any love" policy. The lock screen opened to show a picture of him and Preeti. He wished he too could put his and Naina's picture on his home screen someday.

He opened his contact list. After swiping for a while he found it.

Naina.

His heart raced. His fingers trembled as he saved her number in his phone. He went inside and kept Pandit's phone back on the table.

He came out in the balcony again with his walkman. A strange sensation filled him as he dialled Naina's number from his phone.

"Hello" He heard her sleepy voice. He could see the outline of  the girl, who was studying earlier, sit on the bed with a phone in her hand.

"Hello. Hello. Hello" Naina said with different expressions.

"Hello" She said in a sing song way.

Sameer finally pulled the phone away from his ear, close to the walkman. Every second felt heavy, heavy but beautiful. He could hear his heart thump louder and louder with every second. He pressed the play button.

Naina's voice died down as she heard the music from the walkman.

Teri Umeed Tera Intezaar Karte Hain,
Teri Umeed Tera Intezaar Karte Hain,
Aye Sanam Hum To Sirf
Tumse Pyar Karte Hain

He paused the song. Her eyes fell on someone standing in Munna's balcony. She walked to the window with the curtain.

He saw her coming.

Sameer knew it was Naina.
Naina knew it was Sameer.

The curtain blocked their view but she didn't remove it. He didn't want her to. They could just see an outline of each other. Naina's heart too was racing on a revolting speed. Her eyes welled up for no reason. Their was comfort in being with each other and still not being able to see each other properly. There was comfort in acknowleding the mutual love but not giving in so soon. A part of her wanted to protect herself from any further injury by him but a larger part craved for him and wanted him to win her trust back at all costs. Hence, the curtain physically and emotionally kept flapping between them.

There is love between them? Yes. Is there trust between them? No. Then how will the relationship flourish?

Precap - Sonakshi hui pagal 😑. A DevAkshi chapter.

I was out of town because I had family prioroties to attend the last week. I tried to update but things kept getting in the way. So I'll hold the bonus chapters of other books and focus on this one for a while to make up for the loss. Get ready for shatabdi speed updates.